Only the first one gets a pic this time

DJ QUIK AND KURUPT—BlaQKout (Mad Science)
This was the year of the “temporary” rap duo, as declining record sales and other factors led everyone from EDO.G and Masta Ace to Buckshot and KRS-One to pool their resources into one-off collaborative albums. BlaQKout was easily the most revelatory of these releases, a decidedly un-gangsta, throw-everything-in-the-kitchen-sink type party album that works from start to finish. Kurupt sounded reinvigorated in his role as hype man and pinch hitter while Quik continued to quietly elevate his production and mic game, almost 20 years in. Read the rest of this entry »

The acts behind three of the past year’s best mixtapes, Gary, Indiana’s Freddie Gibbs, Atlanta’s Pill and Huntsville, Alabama’s Paper Route Gangstaz —not to mention Camp Lo — are appearing tonight on what must be the most geographically intriguing, and probably the best, bill at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon, at SOBs. (All due respect to last night’s Raekwon, OJ da Juiceman and Curren$y show, which also featured Pill). There have been interesting hip-hop bills at CMJ before but street rappers from the South and other regions beyond the East Coast have rarely been included on the festival’s agenda, adding to this one’s novelty.

I wrote a little preview of the event for Time Out, here. Freddie Gibbs’s Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik, which I wrote about here, remains one of the year’s best mixtapes, a few months down the line; even the New Yorker is paying its respects. Still waiting for PRGz’s follow-up to Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas and Pill’s 4075: The Refill, though. In the meantime, a taste of what both have been up to: Read the rest of this entry »